Saying goes
"One will achieve ten thousand bones", the change of ancient dynasties, can not be separated from the figure of the military general.
Many great unified dynasties have some world-famous generals appear, than
Such as Qin Zhibai qi, Wang Qi, Han Weiqing, Huo Zhiyi, Tang Li Jing, Li Xun, Song Zhiyue Fei, Meng Jue, Ming Xu Da, Qi Jiguang and so on.
However, after the Qing Dynasty, many people found that there were significantly fewer such worldly celebrities who could affect the entire war pattern.
If you ask everyone what are the most famous generals in the Qing Dynasty, everyone has to think about this question a little in their heads.
However, the results still do not give an answer.
So, as a unified dynasty, why did the Qing Dynasty appear to have a situation where people did not feel that there were any world-class celebrities?
Is it because the overall level and combat effectiveness of the Qing Dynasty's military generals are not good?
Attach importance to cultural education, starting with ideological control
The combat effectiveness of the Qing army is actually beyond doubt. Otherwise, they would not have succeeded in eliminating other forces and entering the Central Plains. But the difference is,
The Qing Dynasty learned from the experience of the demise of other dynasties and strengthened centralization on this basis.
In the second year of Shunzhi's pro-government, Kong Youde, the former king of Dingnan, committed suicide by losing his guard in Guilin, and later prince Nikan of Jingjin died in Hengyang. though
Frequent wars,
However, none of this was enough to shake the foundation of the Qing Dynasty. Faced with such a situation,
Shunzhi did not choose absolute military suppression, but chose to start with culture.
On the one hand, Shunzhi began to promote Sinicization among the nobility, and on the other hand, it adopted the method of Manchu-Han marriage to deepen the integration of Manchus and Han Chinese.
For example, Shunzhi married the noble daughter of the imperial family to Wu Sangui's son.
With the actions of the emperor as an example,
The people below naturally know what to do to get the emperor's favor.
As a result, the activities of the "Manchu Han family relatives" were vigorously launched.
And this too
The emergence of war was effectively avoided.
Since then, successive emperors of the Qing Dynasty have also been paying close attention to "thought".
For example, the smell of discolored text hell.
Such a high-intensity "brainwashing" thought control naturally suppressed the outbreak of war to a large extent.
After all, for ordinary people in ancient times, it was enough to have food to eat and money to spend, and it was not so important which emperor hung high on it.
Therefore, there were not many overall wars in the early Qing Dynasty. And less war, naturally there will be less appearance of world-famous generals.
Of course, less war does not mean that there is no war, such as the Pacification of San Francisco and the Pingping of Dzungar in the Kangxi Dynasty. But
In such a war, the emperor's imperial conquest greatly weakened the position of the military general.
The status of the military general became lower, and he began to "do not do the right thing"
In several major wars in the early Qing Dynasty, Kangxi chose the Imperial Guard in order to win the hearts and minds of the people.
For example, in order to deter Dzungar, Kangxi personally fought more than once.
When the emperor came to battle in person, who would pay attention to who the leading general at that time was?
Under the emperor's sharp edge, no one can be out of his way. Other words
In the early period of the Qing Dynasty, there were not no famous generals, but the sharp edge was covered by the emperor who chose to drive the imperial conquest.
Therefore, in order to seek a way out, the military general began to develop a side business, determined to develop on the "Confucian general".
The term Confucianism originated at the latest in the Tang Dynasty and was widely used by the Ming and Qing dynasties. whereas
The development of Confucian generals in the Qing Dynasty was related to the restriction of the overall social status of military generals.
In the early Qing Dynasty, war broke out, however
The centralization of power has increased, and the sharp edge of the military generals has been left under the cover of the aristocratic class.
Under the influence of such a social background,
Warriors began to develop their literary qualities.
In order to be able to occupy a place in the imperial court, military generals
Began to pay more attention to political intrigue.
From the Yongzheng period onwards, the Qing Dynasty as a whole had fewer wars.
Some of those wars were not enough to change the overall distribution of the Qing Dynasty.
Naturally, the military general who wins the battle will no longer have the reputation and influence of the previous famous general.
In addition, the various supervision systems that began to appear from the Yongzheng period also caused the military generals to converge one after another.
After all, no one wants to be the next year. Between life and future, it is still life that is more important.
Therefore, naturally there will be no world-famous generals who can change the fate of the Qing Dynasty.
By the end of the Qing Dynasty, the overall military strength of the Qing Dynasty was low, and it was in a situation of being invaded by the great powers. The political struggle above the court became more and more intense, and the status of the military generals was not high; and outside the government and the opposition, the overall social status of the Qing Dynasty was not high, and the military generals of the Qing Dynasty naturally did not have a good reputation.
Under such circumstances, although a number of excellent martial artists appeared, such as Zuo Zongtang and others, they were quickly overwhelmed by history. When people think of the late Qing Dynasty, the first thing that comes to mind is that the Qing Dynasty was invaded and divided, and they can't remember what famous people they had that could change the overall situation of the Qing Dynasty.
In fact, the military development in the last years of the Qing Dynasty also had the hope of being improved. However, under the suppression of Empress Dowager Cixi, the hopes of military development of the Qing Dynasty were soon dashed.
When the rulers of the dynasty were determined to seek peace with the enemy, what courage did the generals have to resist the war?
The few victories did not bring the soldiers the honor they deserved, but they did increase the burden on the people.
One of the most famous is the Zhennanguan Victory. In this battle, the famous Qing Dynasty general Feng Zicai was ordered to lead his generals to fight for three days and three nights to repel the French attack and save the land.
The news reached France, where French Prime Minister Joffrey resigned.
But
Before people could begin to enjoy the fruits of victory, Li Hongzhang signed the Sino-French Treaty of Tianjin. Under this situation, how many people can remember Feng Zicai's desperate fight on the battlefield?
epilogue
In general, the reason why the Qing Dynasty left people with the feeling of not having a unique famous general is twofold.
First, there were relatively many wars in the early Days of the Qing Dynasty, but the Qing Dynasty adopted the control of "cultural ideology", and under the promotion of ideology and culture, the merits of military generals were naturally divided up a lot.
Second, by the late Qing Dynasty, the overall military strength of the Qing Dynasty was not high, and the social status of the military generals naturally did not appear.
One may remember those defeats and aggressions more than the victories of the time.
Of course, this does not mean that the Qing Dynasty did not have excellent generals. There were still many outstanding generals in the Qing Dynasty, but most of them did not play a role in changing the entire war situation.
For example, Han Zhiweiqing, Huo Zhiyi, and others have a clear position in military history. In the Qing Dynasty, there were almost no such generals. It is precisely because of this situation that the Qing Dynasty fell into a beaten situation.
However, the general trend of history is inherently divided and merged. In such changes, we can also see the importance of military generals, especially excellent military generals, to national development. This is crucial in any dynasty or generation.