Zhou Yuji, a general who resisted Li Zicheng's army during the Chongzhen years, believed in the words loyalty and righteousness throughout his life, and he was extremely heroic in battle, and he was always at the forefront on the battlefield. General Zhou Yuji had a very far-reaching impact both in the era and in history.
Regarding the death of General Zhou Yuji, there are many historical theories, two of which are more convincing.
The first theory is also recorded in the Ming History, when General Zhou Yuji led his troops to fight to the death against Li Zicheng's Dashun army. After being seriously injured and captured by Li Zicheng, he was shot by Li Zicheng hanging on a high pole, and finally he was brutally dismembered.
Another theory seems to have a higher degree of credibility, it is said that General Zhou Yuji took the initiative to run to Li Zicheng's camp after the attack on Ningwu Pass City, scolded Li Zicheng, and then was killed by Li Zicheng.
Which statement is the true historical truth? After Zhou Yuji's tomb and remains were unearthed, archaeologists found that Zhou Yuji's skull had an extremely deep knife mark, a depth of thirteen centimeters.
This deep knife mark extended directly to the brain, which further confirmed that General Zhou Yuji was indeed killed and died.
What is puzzling is why General Zhou Yuji himself ran to Li Zicheng's camp and made such a counterintuitive move.
According to historical records, after Li Zicheng established the State of Dashun in Xi'an, he had a Dashun army of more than 200,000 people. Li Zicheng led his Dashun army and marched towards the Beijing Division.
Li Zicheng easily conquered Taiyuan, Shanxi, but there was another very sad pass on his road, that is, Ningwu Pass guarded by Zhou Yuji. Ningwu Pass was not large, and its population and scale were far less than the major towns of Taiyuan and Dae, which Li Zicheng had easily conquered.
What made Li Zicheng feel embarrassed was that Zhou Yuji and the Yongwei battalion he led were difficult to deal with. It should be known that the predecessor of the Yongwei Battalion was the Yulin Army set up by Zhu Yuanzhang, and the soldiers of the Yongwei Battalion were all well-trained and brave in battle.
Coupled with the fact that there was a fierce general like Zhou Yuji commanding the leader, this made Li Zicheng feel very headache. Subsequently, when Li Zicheng's Dashun army conquered Ningwu Pass, it fought with the Yongwei battalion in full swing, and the scene was very fierce.
Image: Li Zicheng stills
Zhou Yuji led his troops to defend the city wall, although the city wall was already in tatters and was bombarded countless times by Li Zicheng's cannons. But every time Li Zicheng bombed, the Ming army repaired it once. Zhou Yuji and the Yongwei battalion were like a hard city wall, blocking Li Zicheng's army from marching.
However, after all, it was outnumbered, and the gap between Zhou Yuji's army and Li Zicheng's Dashun army was too large, and soon Zhou Yuji's troops ran out of food. In desperation, Zhou Yuji could only change his tactics and lead the soldiers to retreat from the city wall and change from strict defense to street fighting.
In the course of the street battle, Zhou Yuji killed countless enemies and repelled wave after wave of enemies. In order to reduce the casualties of the Dashun army, Li Zicheng constantly persuaded Zhou Yuji to surrender. Li Zicheng knew that it was only a matter of time before Ningwu Pass was lost, and he did not want his army to suffer too many casualties.
But Zhou Yuji was not moved by the repeated persuasions, but how long could he resist with his own strength?
Image from the Internet: Yongwei Camp
After killing dozens of enemies in a row, Zhou Yuji hit the ground with an arrow. At this time, Zhou Yuji was exhausted, and his whole body was injured, and he was even about to be shot into a hedgehog by an arrow, and finally Zhou Yuji was captured by Li Zicheng.
He led his troops to fight to the death and gave Li Zicheng a heavy blow to his army, and At this time, Li Zicheng was very angry, so he ordered Zhou Yuji to be hung on a high pole, and then shot him, and also brutally dismembered the body, which was enough to see Li Zicheng's anger towards Zhou Yuji.
After Zhou Yuji's death, the people in the city were all moved to tears by the general's loyalty, and the people took up arms and the remaining brave guards threw themselves into the street battle, continuing to fight with Li Zicheng's Dashun army.
Faced with a group of people who regarded death as a homecoming, Li Zicheng chose to order the slaughter of the city. Li Zicheng's methods were very cruel, killing both the elderly and children when slaughtering the city. According to the records of the Ming Dynasty, general Zhou Yuji died in battle.
Image: Li Zicheng ordered stills
However, in the people of Ningwu, the people were more inclined to Zhou Yuji's other method of death, that is, being killed by Li Zicheng as mentioned above. Later, Liu Yuzhan of the Qing Dynasty, after countless in-depth visits and inquiries, wrote the "Table of Zhou Cemeteries in The General Town" for General Zhou Yuji.
According to the records of the tomb table, General Zhou Yuji took the initiative to run to Li Zicheng's camp in order to protect the people of the city.
General Zhou Yuji wanted to tell Li Zicheng that desperate resistance was my order and had nothing to do with the common people. You can kill me, and after occupying Ningwu Pass, please don't hurt the people in the city.
Later, Wang Jue in the Kangxi Dynasty also found evidence of this statement. According to Ma Shoubei's description, there was a saying circulating in Li Zicheng's Dashun army at that time: "Sacrifice Zhou meets Ji, and there is no death in a city."
What Li Zicheng meant was that as long as Zhou Yuji sacrificed his life, he could save the lives of the people in the city. General Zhou Yuji, of course, knew that he and his Brave Guard Battalion could no longer resist the menacing Dashun army.
Since Ningwuguan could no longer be defended, it was better to exchange his own life for the lives of the people in the city. Therefore, when General Zhou Yuji found that he could not resist the Dashun army, he ordered his subordinates: "Please sacrifice me."
A few years later, the remains of General Zhou Yuji were unearthed, which further confirmed this historical rumor. In the last moments of Ningwuguan, General Zhou Yuji chose to believe Li Zicheng and save the entire city from massacre by sacrificing his own life.
Li Zicheng finally kept his promise, and after occupying Ningwu Pass, he did not massacre a single person in the city. The death of General Zhou Yuji was tragic and tragic, and it was touching.
However, there is another question that makes people wonder, since many people at that time confirmed that Zhou Yuji died in beheading, why did the Qing Dynasty write in the ming history that General Zhou Yuji died in battle?
Photo: Li Zicheng occupies Ningwuguan stills
The Qing Dynasty has always described the entry of the Qing army into the customs as revenge for the Ming Dynasty, and Li Zicheng was the great enemy of the Ming Dynasty. In order to set off the justice of the Qing army, the ending is said to be Zhou Yuji defending the city and dying in battle, and Li Zicheng slaughtered the city after the war, so that Li Zicheng can be greatly smeared in history.
On the other hand, people prefer the end of the generals and soldiers living and dying with the people of the city when they defend the city, and recording Li Zicheng as dying while defending the city, in fact, to a certain extent, can better reflect the image of General Zhou Yuji's loyalty and combat heroism.
Article author: Zi Haojun
The whole graphic was produced by the Zi Haoxin team!