Wu Sangui, a famous political and military figure in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties
Wu Sangui (8 June 1612 – 2 October 1678), courtesy name Changbo, was a Ming Dynasty Liaodong native of Gaoyou, Jiangsu Province, the son of Wu Xiang, the general of Jinzhou, and the nephew of Zu Dashou. Famous political and military figures in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties.
In the 40th year of the Wanli Calendar (1612), Wu Sangui was born in the Zhonghou Institute of Han Town outside Guanwai, with his ancestral home in Gaoyou, Jiangsu. Born in the Liaoxi General Menwang clan, he learned martial arts since childhood and was good at riding and shooting. Wu Xiang heard and witnessed how the Ming Dynasty lost the Battle of Quang Ninh in the second year of the Apocalypse (1622), how The Liaodong Jingluo Xiong Tingbi was rumored to be the first nine sides, and how Wang Huazhen, the Governor of Liaodong, went to prison and died. Wu Xiang was transferred to Beijing and married Zu Dashou's sister. Zu Dashou was a noble family living in western Liaoning, Wu Xiang became Zu Dashou's brother-in-law, and Wu Sangui became Zu Dashou's nephew. The marriage between the Zu and Wu families enabled Wu Xiang and Wu Sangui's father and son to find a strong backer, and also made the power of the Zu family even stronger. Under the teachings and influence of his father Wu Xiang and his uncle Zu Dashou, Wu Sangui studied both literature and martial arts, and when he was less than twenty years old, he passed the martial arts examination, and from then on he followed his father Wu Xiang and his uncle Zu Dashou to begin his military career.
In the second year of Chongzhen (1629), Emperor Taiji of the Qing Dynasty personally led an army of 50,000 to 60,000 to avoid the Ningjin Defense Line constructed by the Ming Dynasty, and detoured through Mongolia to Beijing, known in history as the "Change of Self". Yuan Chonghuan's failure to fully stop Emperor Taiji led to the Qing army coming to the city of Beijing, coupled with the previous jiaozhao killing of Mao Wenlong without authorization, cultivating his own forces in Liaodong, and other factors, the Chongzhen Emperor arrested Yuan Chonghuan and imprisoned him. Immediately upon hearing this, Zu Dashou withdrew from Beijing with Wu Xiang and Wu Sangui's father and son, as well as 15,000 Qin Wang Ming's army. Rush back to Ningyuan in an attempt to protect yourself. This year Wu Sangui was 17 years old. In the Battle of Dalinghe in the fourth year of Chongzhen (1631), Wu Xiang, the regimental commander-in-chief, led more than 40,000 horsemen to aid The Great Life of The Great Linghe, but Wu Xiang escaped from the battle and was stripped of his post.
In June of the fifth year of Chongzhen (1632), in order to quell the mutiny of Kong Youde and other generals in Dengzhou, Shandong, Wu Xiang accompanied the deputy general Zu Dabi on a campaign in Shandong, and finally Kong Youde crossed the sea by boat from Dengzhou and defected to Houjin, while Wu Xiang resumed his post as commander-in-chief. With the reinstatement of Wu Xiangguan, Wu Sangui also served as a guerrilla at the age of 20. In the eighth year of Chongzhen (1635), Wu Sangui was promoted to the right camp of the forward, at the age of 23. In September of the eleventh year of Chongzhen (1638), he was appointed deputy general of the right battalion of the forward, equivalent to a deputy commander-in-chief, at the age of 26. In the twelfth year of Chongzhen (1639), the governor of Jiliao, Hong Chengzuo, the governor of Liaodong, Fang Yizao, the governor of Liaodong, and the eunuch of the two towns of Guanning, Gao Qiqian, reported to the imperial court for approval, and Wu Sangui was promoted to the general of the Ningyuan regiment to train general soldiers at the age of 27.
In the thirteenth year of Chongzhen (1640), the Ming and Qing armies engaged in an encounter near Mount Jiama near Xingshan (present-day Xingshan, Jinxian County, Liaoning). Wu Sangui showed his superb combat skills in this battle, he desperately rushed to kill, and fought a bloody battle with the Qing army, but because the Qing army was brave and unusual, it finally ended with casualties on both sides. At the beginning of the fourteenth year of Chongzhen (1641), the Qing army gradually formed a siege of Jinzhou. The governor of Jiliao, Hong Chengzu, consulted with Qiu Minyang and Wu Sangui, the governor of Liaodong, and decided to venture to the three cities of Jinzhou, Songshan, and Xingshan to transport rice.
In the first month of the sixteenth year of Chongzhen (1643), Zu Dashou, who had surrendered, received a letter from Wu Sangui in Shengjing, and Zu Dashou forwarded the letter to Emperor Taiji, who replied: "Er sent an envoy to the general soldier's book of Uncle Zu, who has been informed. The heart of the general, hesitant. It is a pity that the general will miss the opportunity. Wu Sangui was shaken, although he did not surrender, but he had already left a back road for himself to descend. In the spring, Wu Sangui was ordered to enter the pass and rush to the aid of the Beijing Division to resist the Qing army that had entered the fortress for the fifth time. The march was slow, and when it arrived, the Qing army had retreated, but Chongzhen still valued him and thanked him for coming to Beijing to serve the king. On May 15, the Chongzhen Emperor invited Wu Sangui, who had come to Qin Wang, to a banquet at the Wuying Palace, and gave Wu Sangui shangfang a sword. In September, the Qing army bypassed Ningyuan and laid down Houshou, Qiantunwei, and Zhongqianshou, and in seven or eight days, all three cities fell, and Wu Sangui's Ningyuan became an isolated city outside Shanhaiguan and had lost its strategic significance.
At the beginning of the seventeenth year of Chongzhen (1644), the Ming Dynasty, facing the fate of collapse, bet on Wu Sangui, who had a heavy army outside Guanwai. Many courtiers, such as Wang Yongji and Wu Linzheng, successively went up to the court and demanded that Ning Yuan's division be withdrawn to defend the capital. The Da Shun army pointed directly at the Beijing Division, chongzhen commanded the emperor to recruit the world's soldiers, and on March 5, he crowned Wu Sangui as Pingxi Bo, and ordered Wu Sangui to quickly lead the army into Beijing. On March 19, Wu Sangui led his army to Shanhaiguan, and then led his troops west to Gyeonggi. On the twenty-second day, Wu Sangui's troops arrived in the Yutian area, at which time they suddenly received news that the Jingshi had fallen and Chongzhen had hanged himself. The demise of the Ming Dynasty deprived Wu Sangui of his trust, and in order to find a new lord, Wu Sangui speculated among various political forces for more than a month.
Da Shun Li Zicheng had surrendered many times, and Wu Sangui hesitated repeatedly, and once had the idea of surrendering to Li Zicheng. It is rumored that he later heard that his concubine Chen Yuanyuan had been abducted by Li Zicheng's men and gave up. Wu Sangui, who was attacked on both sides, was inferior to Li Zicheng internally, and it was difficult to stop Dolgun externally. Chen Yuanyuan and the Wu family's relatives both became hostages to Li Zicheng. In order to save his family's life, Wu agreed to negotiate peace with Li Zicheng, and in order to prevent Li Zicheng from cheating, he privately asked Dorgon for help on the condition of the division of the north and south of the Yellow River. On April 13, Li Zicheng personally led an army of 60,000 to Shanhaiguan. At this time, Li Zicheng, who had been carried away by a series of victories since the beginning of the year, underestimated the seriousness of the military confrontation at that time. When Wu Sangui learned of Li Zicheng's personal leadership of the eastern expedition, he immediately sent six men, including the gentry of Shanhaiguan, Li Yousong, Tan Xiaohuan, Liu Tailin, Liu Taishan, Huang Zhen'an, and Gao Xuan, to greet Li Zicheng's army in Sanhe County, not far east of Beijing, to express their intention of surrender, in order to delay time and wait for the Qing army. After the emissaries sent to the Qing army to ask for help returned to Shanhaiguan with Dolgun's reply letter, Wu Sangui immediately wrote a letter to Dolgun, asking him to "quickly reorganize the tiger brigade and go straight into the mountains and seas." When Li Zicheng arrived at the gate, Wu Sangui sent a representative to contact the surrender in a vain attempt to escape, only to discover Wu Sangui's true intention of false surrender, but he had already missed the favorable opportunity for the light army to rush forward and seize the gate. However, after receiving Wu Sangui's second letter of help, Dorgon arrived fifteen miles away from the gate on the twenty-first day after a day and night of forced marching.
On April 21, Dorgon took advantage of Wu Sangui's critical situation to force Wu Sangui to abandon the policy of joining forces with the Qing to attack Li and completely surrender to the Qing Dynasty. On April 22, the Wu army was initially defeated, and Wu Sangui asked for help from Dolgun, who took advantage of the opportunity of Wu Sangui's negotiations with Li Zicheng to suddenly launch an attack on Li Zicheng. In the Battle of Yishi, Wu Sangui joined forces with the Qing army to defeat Li Zicheng. After the Qing army entered the pass, it invaded Beijing, and Dorgon moved the young Shunzhi Emperor and the imperial court from Shengjing in the northeast to Beijing, and after the Qing capital was Beijing, Wu Sangui was made the king of Pingxi.
After the Qing army entered the customs, due to the sharp changes in the balance of various political forces, the Qing government implemented a policy of bribery by high-ranking officials Houlu, and the deceased bureaucrats surrendered to the Qing Dynasty. Wu Sangui also abandoned the idea of supporting Prince Liming. As a representative of the Han landlord class that surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, there was still a considerable distance between Wu Sangui and the Qing government. First of all, Wu Sangui's beggar attacked Li under the banner of "revenge on the father of the emperor".
At the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, Wu Sangui still maintained certain contacts with the remnants of the Ming Dynasty. To the Fuwang regime in Nanjing, he even said: "I can't bear to add a lot of money to the other." Third, unlike other demoted officers, Wu Sangui also had a unit under his own independent command. Therefore, at the beginning of the customs entry, the Qing government showed favor to it
Pet, memory is suspicious, and does not grant him the right to do things. In addition to being strictly guarded against politically, militarily, he only took advantage of his hatred for Li Zicheng's rebel army to lead his troops to attack Li. In June, Wu Sangui went out of Shandong to pacify the remnants of Li Zicheng, and in September, he marched on Li Zicheng from the British king Azigexi.
In August of the second year of Shunzhi (1645), after Li Zicheng's main force was basically eliminated, the Qing government transferred him back from the front line and "left the town of Jinzhou". For this arrangement of the Qing government, Wu Sangui was very clear. From then on, he no longer mentioned anything about "revenge against the father of the emperor", but turned the wheel of the wind, called the Chongzhen Emperor the "old lord", and repeatedly confessed that he was "loyal to the new dynasty".
In the fourth year of Shunzhi (1647), the Qing government again transferred Wu Sangui to the pass, and together with the Eight Banners general Li Guohan, he and the town of Hanzhong killed the remnants of the anti-Qing rebel army in the northwest region. During this period, in order to show his loyalty to the Qing Dynasty, Wu Sangui not only brutally suppressed the remnants of the peasant army and slaughtered the city at every turn, but also spared no effort to kill some descendants of Zhu Ming who rebelled against the Qing. The change in Wu Sangui's thinking and actions made the central government of the Qing Dynasty rely more heavily on him, and the remnants of the anti-Qing rebels in the northwest region were wiped out.
In the eighth year of Shunzhi (1651), the Qing government ordered Wu Sangui and Li Guohan to lead an army into Sichuan to attack the remnants of Zhang Xianzhong's rebel army. In the past few years, it has successively pacified Chongqing, Chengdu and other important towns in Sichuan. In the fourteenth year of Shunzhi (1657), Wu Sangui again took the post of General of Pingxi and marched south to Yungui to attack the yongli regime of Gui, the last regime of the Southern Ming Dynasty.
In the sixteenth year of Shunzhi (1659), Wu Sangui attacked Yunnan. After capturing Yunnan, he entrusted him with the establishment of a government, the town guarded Yunnan, and was in charge of military and civilian affairs. In the eighteenth year of Shunzhi (1661), he went out of Burma and captured king Gui. For more than a decade, Wu Sangui led his troops from the northwest to the southwest frontier, establishing a special merit for the Qing Dynasty to establish its rule over the whole country. Therefore, the Qing Dynasty changed his original control use to let him go. Not only did he allow him to take on the responsibility of the matter after Li Guohan's death, but also in all military activities, "under the pretext of cheapness, no return to the middle system, the employment of personnel, the officials and soldiers must not be constrained, the use of wealth, and the household department must not be late." At the same time, in terms of positions, he has also been promoted repeatedly.
In November of the first year of the Kangxi Dynasty (1662), he also captured Gui Wang Gong, the Prince of Jin, and also had jurisdiction over Guizhou. His son Wu Yingxiong also chose Princess Shang, known as "Heshuo Frontal Donkey", plus Shaobao and Prince Taibao. When Wu Sangui opened the domain and set up a mansion in Yunnan, and his power and momentum reached its peak, the contradictions between him and the central government of the Qing Dynasty began to intensify. In Yungui, he wanted to be the King of Pingxi in the Qing Dynasty's Muying "Shizhen Yunnan". For these ideas of Wu Sangui, the Qing Dynasty looked at the fire. Therefore, after Wu Sangui killed the Yongli Emperor, he began to reduce Wu Sangui's power.
In the second year of the Kangxi Dynasty (1663), the Qing court confiscated his letter from the Pingxi general on the grounds that Yungui's military operations had stopped, and then "cut off his right to employ people to make up for the titles and removed them from the Ministry of Selection." In the sixth year of the Kangxi Dynasty (1667), he also took the opportunity of his resignation as the governor of the affairs of the two provinces of Yungui and Guizhou, and ordered the governors of the two provinces to obey the orders of the central government. At the same time, he was also deprived of his judicial privileges, "those who fled from pingxi domain were all tried by the division, and Zhang Jing was not allowed to interfere." Wu Sangui retaliated by "building a provocation against Miao Barbarians and using troops by borrowing things" to expand the army and demand wages. The contradiction between Wu Sangui and the Qing government became more acute.
In the spring of the twelfth year of the Kangxi Dynasty (1673), Shang Kexi, the king of Pingnan who was guarding Guangdong, asked him to return to Lao Liaodong, and the Kangxi Emperor took advantage of the situation and made a decision to move his domain. Subsequently, the request for geng jingzhong, the king of Jingnan who was guarding Fujian, to withdraw his domain was also approved as usual. Under the pressure of the situation, Wu Sangui also wrote to the imperial court under false pretenses and asked for the withdrawal of the domain, but in fact hoped that the imperial court would comfort him. The Kangxi Emperor was well aware of Wu Sangui's true intentions. He believes that Wu Sangui and the imperial court have been opposed for a long time, "withdrawing and reversing, and not withdrawing and reversing." If not, if it were to be launched first, it would be possible to make it." Therefore, he resolutely decided to allow him to withdraw the domain, and also sent a special envoy to Dian to vigorously manage the withdrawal of the domain. In November, Wu Sangui killed Zhu Guozhi, the governor of Yunnan, claiming that the whole world was recruiting the Grand Marshal of the Terracotta Army, proposing to "xingming to seek revenge" and rebelling.
Due to Wu Sangui's despoticism in central Yunnan for fourteen years, at the beginning of the rebellion, the rebels took advantage of the sharp link to the whole province of Guizhou and Hengzhou in Hunan. The henchmen of King Jingnan of Fujian, King Erfan of Pingnan of Guangdong, and Wu Sangui in various places, such as Zheng Jiaolin, Tan Hong, and Wu Zhimao of Sichuan, Luo Sen and Sun Yanling of Guangxi, Fuchen of Shaanxi, and Cai Lu of Hebei also successively raised the banner of rebellion and responded one after another. Suddenly, the situation was very favorable to Wu Sangui.
In the thirteenth year of the Kangxi Dynasty (1674), Wu Sangui was called "King of Zhou" in the first year. He sent Wu Yingqi to Yuezhou, and the Battle of Yuezhou broke out. The fifteenth year of the Kangxi Dynasty (1676) was a year of important turning points in the military situation between the two sides. As a result of the three years of bingxing, Wu Sangui deeply felt that his troop strength and financial resources were seriously insufficient, and Wu Sangui's henchmen in various places also deviated from Germany one after another and had their own plans.
In early June of the seventeenth year of the Kangxi Dynasty (1678), Wu Sangui personally ordered the general Ma Bao in the capital city of Hengzhou (present-day Hengyang City), and ordered 50,000 troops to go south to attack Yongxing, the place where soldiers must fight, and won two battles and two victories, creating a qing army, killing the capital YiLibu in the first battle, and the commander of the defending army, Ha Kesan, and seizing the Qing army's camp outside the river (Yongxing standing on the water, which connected Hengzhou and passed through Guangdong); in the first battle, the forward commander Shuo Dai, the deputy capital Tongtuo Dai, and Yi Sixiao led reinforcements, the camp was washed away, the south bank of the river fell, and the Qing army was forced to return to Guangdong. Inflicted severe military blows on the Qing army and Kangxi. In mid-June, Empress Zhang died, and Wu Sangui's spirit was frustrated. In July, Wu Sangui personally deployed a large-scale offensive against Guangdong and Guangxi. In Hengzhou, the generals Hu Guozhu and Xia Guoxiang were sent to lead an army of 100,000 troops, breaking into Liangguang and winning several times, especially in Guangxi, and made greater progress, except for Wuzhou, all of which were recovered by the Wu army. The northern Yuezhou war was presided over by Wu Sangui's nephew Wu Yingqi, the imperial Qing army was outside the Huxiang Gate, and the Qing army crossed the river several times, but was unsuccessful.
In August of the seventeenth year of the Kangxi Dynasty (1678), the heat in Hengzhou was extremely hot, Wu Sangui was in a bad mood, too anxious, and his liver was too hot, so he suddenly suffered from the disease of "stroke choking", and then added the disease of "diarrhea". Wu Sangui then instructed his confidante to welcome emperor Wu Shipan to hengzhou to succeed to the throne and entrust him with the aftermath. Late on the night of August 18, Wu Sangui died at the imperial palace in the capital city of Hengzhou (present-day Hengyang), at the age of sixty-seven, and had only been emperor for more than five months.
On the 22nd, Wu Sangui's nephew and son-in-law and his confidant generals Ma Bao, Hu Guozhu, and Xia Guoxiang gathered in Hengzhou to promote the military affairs of Wu Guogui and send Hu Guozhu back to Yunnan to welcome Wu Shipan to Hengzhou for funeral. Hu Guozhu arrived in Yunnan, conveyed the opinions of the generals to Guo Zhuangtu, who remained behind, and prepared to escort Wu Shipan to Hengzhou (present-day Hengyang) to succeed to the throne. Guo Zhuangtu had a daughter married to Wu Shipan, and in order to protect his power, he tried to prevent Wu Shipan from leaving Yunnan and going to Hengzhou to succeed to the throne. In September, Wu Guogui convened and presided over a meeting of generals to discuss future policies and plans. Although Wu Guogui had considerable vision and courage and insight, the generals wanted to protect the small property of the Yunnan family, and this proposal was rejected without careful discussion. In November, Hu Guozhu and others wrapped Wu Sangui's body in cotton, secretly carried Baoqing into Guizhou, and entered Guizhou through Baoqing, while the general Ma Bao stayed in Hengzhou (present-day Hengyang). Wu Shipan welcomed him to Guiyang and took the throne.
Wu Sangui can be called a beautiful man. Wu Sangui's ancestral home is Gaoyou, Jiangsu, and the apricot blossoms and spring rain in Jiangnan are filled with water vapor; he himself grew up in the frosty Liaodong. The water vapor of Jiangnan and the long wind outside the plug dissolved into his temperament at the same time. His appearance is both North Xiong and Nan Xiu. The two cheerful eyebrows on the white face and a straight nose bridge fully provoke the heroism of manhood. What is even more eye-catching is that the calm breath between the eyebrows is like a deep pool of still water, which is attacking people.
It is recorded in the ancient books: "The three gui giant ears are high, there is no need, look at the eyes and hopes, and the dignity is like a god." The Yanling general Mei Fengzi was good at riding and shooting, and his torso was not very strong and brave. Shen Is resourceful and quite self-congratulatory. ”
Wu Sangui, who became famous at a young age, stayed briefly in Beijing. In the circles of high society, he almost caused a sensation with legendary experience and handsome style. Famous princes and even literati and scholars were proud to know him. His temperament of both roughness and elegance made Wu Meicun, a great poet who moved the Beijing Master, very impressed, and left him with the sentence "White and waiting for the least year".
One year, Wu Sangui went to Suzhou with his grandfather to buy silk, and in his spare time, he visited Taihu Lake with his suzhou friend Zhou Tong. The two were sipping tea in the tea house, when they suddenly saw a young woman dancing on the yacht on the other side, singing beautifully and beautifully, and Wu Sangui did not feel excited. He asked Zhou Tong, "Who is this woman, with a superb voice and a crushing voice?" Zhou Tong said, "You don't know, her name is Chen Yuanyuan, she is a popular singer and prostitute of the Suzhou Art And Art Opera Team, and her name is Zhen Jiangnan." ”
After Wu Sangui and Zhou Tong separated, their minds were uncertain, and the figure of Chen Yuanyuan always appeared in their minds. He has no intention of doing business, and often uses the excuse to "meet with friends in the same window", but actually follows the art class to watch the performance to witness Chen Yuanyuan's appearance. Every time Chen Yuanyuan appeared in a performance, he always saw a handsome young man in the front seat, staring at himself intently, making her six gods and no master. She secretly watched this young man, who was dignified and polite, and did not look like an ordinary man's children from his clothing. Later, I heard the boss say that this young man's surname was Wu, his name was Wu Sangui, and he was a disciple of the general. Every time Chen Yuanyuan performed, as long as he saw Wu Sangui, he couldn't help but secretly send Qiu Bo.
One day, Chen Yuanyuan went home after putting on makeup, overheard the people behind him, but when she looked back, it was Wu Sangui, who was overjoyed, so she slowed down. Wu Sangui took a few steps to catch up with Chen Yuanyuan and asked her to talk about the "Spring Tea House". The two came to the tea house to sit down, first made a polite set, asked for a pot of jasmine tea, chatted while tasting tea, and exchanged admirations. The two are inseparable, and there is a great sense of seeing each other and hating the night. Wu Sangui said, "I must redeem you, marry you, and never separate." Chen Yuanyuan said: "I came from a poor background and do not deserve to be your wife, as long as you are good to me and can serve you around, I will be satisfied." So the two of them swore an oath to the mountain alliance, privately decided for life, only to wait for Wu Sangui's father to agree, and then Ming Media was marrying, and then took Chen Yuanyuan into the Wu family gate.
Taking the competition for a woman as the main reason for Wu Sangui's rebellion against Li Qingqing is one-sided. However, it did trigger Wu Sangui's feelings.
At the end of the Ming Dynasty, it had become a common practice for feudal priests to buy beautiful concubines at great expense. Chen Yuanyuan was purchased by Wu Sangui with thousands of gold, and he himself was a feudal official with tens of thousands of troops, and when his special property was violated, he could not cooperate with it emotionally under any circumstances. Therefore, denying or ignoring the effect of Chen Yuanyuan's captivity by Liu Zongmin on Wu Sangui's raising troops against Li is also one-sided.
Politically, the break with Li Zicheng left Wu Sangui in a situation where he was attacked from the belly and back. To the west of Shanhaiguan, Li Zicheng's heavy troops were close at hand, and a fierce battle was imminent. To the east of Shanhaiguan, there was a powerful Qing army, an approaching old enemy. Since the road to surrender Li was blocked, Wu Sangui was forced to turn his attention to the Qing Dynasty regime, which dominated the northeast, in order to survive itself.
Whether It is Wu Sangui who surrendered to the Qing Dynasty because of a woman, or Li Zicheng and Liu Zongmin who lost their power because of a woman, who planted greater tragedies and regrets by themselves, it is really clear at a glance. Previously, Wu Sangui was persuaded by the Qing Dynasty to surrender many times but did not agree, and Wu Sangui was against Li because of Chen Yuanyuan, and some people proposed to "borrow the Northern Soldiers (Qing Soldiers) to enter the customs and annihilate the 'Li Thieves'" together. The "Biography of Wu Sangui, King of Pingxi," records Wu Sangui's recollection of the decision-making at that time after the Qing soldiers unified the whole country: "Just when the thieves were building a rebellion, they summoned The Guardian Of the Gods, and they could not do both, but they were beggars of the ben dynasty (the Qing Dynasty), and they took revenge on Xue jun's father." However, in fact, he failed to save Jun with all his strength, and also abandoned Li Zicheng's reconciliation, which led to the killing of his father and the whole family, and finally single-mindedly took revenge and finally reunited with Chen Yuanyuan.